Dear Sir,

Labour Councillor Tristan Learoyd is quite wrong to call Liberal Democrats hypocrites for pledging their support for care services.

The real hypocrites are Labour members who try to pretend that Labour would not have made cuts.

Firstly, if Labour had won the 2011 election there would have had to implement their planned cuts, which were similar to what we have now. The only alternative would have been passing on even bigger debts to future generations.

Secondly, Labour got us into the situation. Their mismanagement of the economy left the country borrowing an extra £400 million every day to plug the gap. Gordon Brown was spending £4 for every £3 he had. You don’t have to be an accountant to work out that it can’t go on like that.

Thirdly, savings in local government spending are inevitable but the Government is not telling the Council what to cut. It is entirely up to the Council where they choose to make savings and decide what their priorities are. Liberal Democrat Councillors and our MP Ian Swales have different priorities to Labour and therefore we are perfectly entitled to campaign against cuts to care services that Labour councillors choose to make. Everyone knows that over the past four years they have wasted money, failed to achieve efficiencies and failed to establish common sense priorities.

Yours faithfully,

Councillor Chris Abbott
Liberal Democrat